Australian Public Service entities are to report their gender equality data details to the national Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) this year to take part in a pilot prior to the reporting going national.
The decision follows the Commonwealth’s commitment to update the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 to require public sector reporting to WGEA as part of its response to the Respect@Work report.
The States and Territories joined the commitment in late 2021, making an in-principle agreement to provide their data to WGEA in by 2022-23.
According to the WGEA, the public sector entities that participate in the pilot can expect to gain a better understanding of their progress against key metrics and the ability to benchmark their performance against other organisations.
“In doing so, these entities will be better placed to identify gender equality challenges and put action plans in place,” WGEA said.
“Your participation and feedback from the 2022 pilot will be instructive for WGEA to better tailor the program to the needs of the Public Sector going into the future,” it said.
“The Public Sector Reporting Program will also contribute to the Agency’s world-leading dataset, helping us build a clearer picture of the state of gender equality across Australian workplaces.”
WGEA said the pilot would include Commonwealth Government entities under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013, with the reporting period to cover 15 July to 21 October 2022.
It said Agencies wishing to participate in the pilot would need to gain approval from their leadership, to register their organisation, and have a Digital Identity (myGovID).
“WGEA has worked with the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) to facilitate sharing of workforce data already collected by the APSC,” the Agency said.
“This means that Commonwealth Public Sector organisations that employ staff under the Public Service Act 1999 may have the option to have Workplace Profile data and questions 1-4 of the Workforce Management Statistics data uploaded on their behalf by the APSC with your permission,” it said.
Further information for APS entities on taking part in WGEA’s Public Sector Reporting pilot can be accessed at this PS News link.
